In the drilling and completion industry and for example in hydrocarbon exploration and recovery operations, efforts to improve production efficiency and increase output are ongoing. Some such efforts include preventing undesired fluids or other materials from entering a production borehole or certain portions of a borehole.
Downhole packer systems can be employed in an attempt to, for example, prevent entry of unwanted materials into a production flow or define selected production or fracture zones. Due to material expansion in the packers and discontinuities in casing materials or a borehole wall, leakage spaces may form in a packer or between the packer and a casing or borehole wall. Such leakage spaces can compromise the seal formed by such packers.